Health officials are warning of a new “zombie drug.”
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) issued a warning to healthcare providers on March 21 due to the emergence of “xylazine-laced drug overdoses” occurring across the state and the rest of the nation.
The DEA has seen a 1,127% increase in xylazine-positive overdose deaths in the southern part of the country.
Xylazine is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer often found in combination with other illicit drugs, most often fentanyl.
The term “zombie drug” might come from some of xylazine’s symptoms, such as necrotic skin ulcers and abscesses. Users can appear to have a blue or grey skin tone from using the tranquilizer.
Fentanyl overdose rates and deaths also continue to surge across the state and the rest of the nation. Multiple local teenagers have recently died due to overdoses of the drug, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Officials have already reported that xylazine has exacerbated the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that those using fentanyl that contains xylazine do so to lengthen the “euphoric effects” of the drug. Moreover, the agency observed that most majority of overdose deaths linked to both substances had also been connected to other drugs, including cocaine, opioids, heroin, and alcohol.
“Xylazine may complicate overdose response due to its sedative effects, which can cause people to become over sedated and unresponsive for long periods of time,” said DSHS officials in the notice.
Narcan, or naloxone, has already been approved as a medication to counter the effects of an overdose. An FDA panel recently favored the potential of making this medication available over the counter, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The DSHS recommends that healthcare providers who treat patients with “severe, necrotic skin ulcerations” should consider exposure to xylazine as a possible cause.
“Even though xylazine is not responsive to naloxone, it is often mixed with opioids, therefore, suspected overdoses should still be treated with naloxone,” said DSHS officials in the notice. “If the patient is not responding as expected after naloxone is administered, healthcare providers should consider potential xylazine exposure,” it continued.